Kara Dennison
January 28, 2022 
The last chapter of the Fire Force manga is done — and soon our adventure with the Blue Stripes will come to an end. There’s still a little time yet, though — so we’re tanking up in advance and lining up what’s going to fill the manga (and possibly anime) void.
The series glows with incendiary action and bizarre plot twists. So which anime and manga world will you jump to next?
Soul Eater
Seems a bit of a no-brainer, but a fair one. If you like Atsushi Ōkubo’s work on Fire Force, you’ll want to give Soul Eater a go. Especially if you’re into that Tim Burton-y vibe. Instead of generational Infernals fighting with fire powers, we’ve got people who can turn into weapons. Assassins and their transforming weapon-friends study at a special magic school. And, well, we all know what happens when you go to a special magic school.
Initially, the goal is for each weapon to absorb the souls of 99 bad humans and one witch. But Maka, Soul, and their friends will also have to counter the machinations of a Great Old One while they try to level up. It’s Atsushi Ōkubo stakes with a Nightmare Before Christmas vibe, and we’re here for it.
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
There’s a proud tradition of “people who are the thing fight the thing” stories. Blade. Vampire Hunter D. Fire Force. And also Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, the steampunk zombie anime with character designs by Macross and Gunbuster artist Haruhiko Mikimoto. But we’re not saying the Z Word — so it’s “kabane” for walking corpses, and “kabaneri” for the human/Kabane hybrids who hunt them.
Protagonist Ikoma becomes a Kabaneri thanks to his cool anti-kabane machine, which stops him from full transforming after a bite. He teams up with Mumei — a name that literally means “no name” — and they fight their way through the hordes. On a super cool steam train.
Blue Exorcist
Over in another anime entirely, Shinra of Fire Force has a kinda-lookalike in Rin Okumura. He doesn’t grin quite as big, but he does flame on. And he’s got an even more infernal background than Shinra. Like, he’s literally the son of Satan. He gets a good 16 years free of this knowledge (and his powers). But when real dad kills foster dad, Rin has no interest in going “home” to Hell. Rather, he starts training up to kill Satan.
Blue Exorcist plays host to several other characters with demonic powers. But you’ll also find other magics at play — as with Shiemi, who wields plant-related powers, and hard-drinking swordwoman Shura.
Here are some more paranormal anime for your watch list!
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